Last week I saw the movie Dr. Prakash baba Amte – The Real Hero starring Nana Patekar, Sonali Kulkarni & Mohan Agashe in lead roles. The Marathi film is a biopic based on the life of Dr. Prakash Amte – son of Baba Amte. The movie shows stark realities of lives of advasis – the Madia tribe from Gadchiroli district. The movie shows Dr. Prakash Apte, his wife Dr. Mandakini Amte and his colleague’s limitless struggle with the naive Madia tribal, struggle with wild animals, struggle with Naxalites and corrupt government officials for bringing in the basic requirements for the existence of the tribal people. Many scenes in the movie are chilling. The Amtes (Prakash and Mandakini) are oblivious of their destination in life. They see the pathetic conditions of the advasis who live like animals. In fact, the tribal people don’t even know that they are human. Both husband and wife decide to make Hemalkasa their home, they live with the Madia tribe people serving them.

The movie shows journey of the husband and wife doctor couple. It portrays their understanding, their thinking, and their similar aims and objectives while supporting each other. Both have forgone money, status, careers etc living in the deep jungle amongst most pathetic conditions. The movie shows both Dr.Amtes and their colleagues accepting life as it comes; all of them devoted to shaping the lives of the tribal people. Dr. Prakash Amte has been shown doing gynecology and ophthalmology operations. Dr.Amte uses his knowledge and reading to help patients in dire need of medical help. While watching the movie one thinks today’s medical world is highly clichéd.  The medical specialization has created a situation of “too many cooks in the kitchen”. Today’s academic medical centers are full of specialty teams, which cover all facets of health care. The composition of these teams includes a wide array of practitioners, ranging from allied health professionals, to student doctors training to obtain their medical degree.

Today’s patients are finding themselves caught amongst experts with numerous opinions surrounding their various medical ailments. They listen to too many specialists for their ailments. What happens when these recommendations begin to conflict? When reality sets in, the patient does not know who to turn to or how to proceed forward. This movie has shown two methodical medical practitioners using their common sense and expertise. I really appreciated his fact while watching the movie.

Dr. Prakash Amte is the son of Magsaysay awardee and legendry Baba Amte, he and his wife, Dr. Mandakini Amte were awarded the Magsaysay Award for ‘Community Leadership’ in 2008 for their benevolent work in the form of the ‘Lok Biradari Prakalp’ amongst the Madia Gonds in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.

Nana Patekar has played Dr. Prakash Amte effortlessly. His dialogue delivery, voice modulation, facial expressions, eye movements, and body language every bit of his screen presence is awesome. His dialogue delivery in Marathi is as dynamic as in Hindi. The dialogues written by Adv. Samruddhi Porey are heart-touching and full of wisdom. The cinematographer Mahesh Anye has done an incredible job with lighting and breathtaking photography. Patekar has portrayed Dr. Praksh Amte with incisive emotions. There are innumerable scenes in the movie which will dampen your eyes. I think no other actor would fit the role of Prakash Amte on screen. And, beautiful Sonali Kulkarni has supported Nana Patekar with equal brilliance and intensity. Both Patekar and Sonali Kulkarni make a wonderful screen pair.

We all live our life cribbing for countless and unfulfilled needs and demands; we live a monotonous routine, and are never contended in our lives. And, there are people like Baba Amte and his sons Prakash and Vikas Amte who have worked towards making the world a better place to live. The father Baba Amte has literally fought all his life for fiving the leprosy patients a better life. And, his sons Vikas and Prakash have also dedicated their lives for social causes. They worked and lived to serve others, to make the world a little better; by doing so, all that they gained is a little peace of mind – little happiness. I think that has led them into self actualization.

The director of the movie, Sammruddhi Porey and the entire unit’s efforts need to be lauded for showing Dr. Prakash Amte’s compassionate mindset, stretching his limits with utmost reality to bring the small changes in the tribal land. The cast and crew of the movie have gone out of their way to depict reality. They have shot the movie with real tribal people and animals which is a dangerous and painstaking task. Apart from this, the dialogues are intelligently written, dialogue and description is where the experience of screenplay for the audience lives in;
the feel and consistency of the dialogues and placements of them are simply superb. Nana Patekar and Sonali Kulakrni have delivered them precisely. The screen play is very well edited and some scenes in the movie have rib-tickling humor which makes the movie more appealing. This is must watch movie for all.

• Produced By : Samruddhi Porey
• Directed By : Samruddhi Porey
• Star Cast : Nana Patekar, Sonali Kulkarni,Mohan Aagashye, Ashish Chougule,Vikram Gaikwad, Bharat Ganeshpure, Tejashri Pradhan, Aniruddha Wankar,Vinayak Patwardhan,Kunal Gajbhare,Sushant Kakde,Sukumar Day, Prasad Dhakunkar, Naina Rani, Krishna Dharme,Vinod Raut
• Cinematographer :Mahesh Anye

Music is beyond caste, creed, gender, age, financial status or any other parameters; it is divine and devoid of any tenets. While renowned and large bands in the world are investing in singers and instruments to get celebrity status and prominence ‘Dharavi Rocks’ has emerged as a junk band and is has set its own class among the world of musical bands. Its uniqueness lies in the matchless instruments used; it ranges from recycled plastic, buckets, tin covers, soft cans, water drums, wires etc.

The band is an assortment of young artists – all are rag pickers who have no exposure to the worldly comforts and it operates from a tiny tin room above the water pipe line of Dharavi – the biggest slum of Asia. The band is spreading a message of reusing and recycling waste; the message says – every piece of waste can be used with a difference and has strength of its own. Every piece of scrap has its percussion quality; thus making instruments from them is a great idea by the kids of the band.

The credit of this band goes to music workshops conducted by ACORN Foundation (India), a non-governmental organization that works with rag pickers and in the field of waste collection and management. ACORN aims at teaching poor children some skills and gives them opportunities in entering some kind entertainment activities.  This percussion band is a part of ACORN’s Dharavi Project, which was set up as a multimedia project that would help to change the living conditions of the over 1,00,000 rag pickers who set apart waste in and around the landfills of Mumbai. The project also helps to organize academic classes and sports and other recreational activities for the underage rag pickers.

Mr. Vinod Shetty, who is a lawyer by profession and director of the ACORN foundation, says the junk band centers on ACORN’s core theme – waste management in Mumbai. ‘Dharavi Rocks’ makes music out of junk and gives the message of waste management to rest of the world. This band has inspired many other top ranking schools in the city. The children of these famous schools have created their junk bands and they occasionally meet the Dharavi Rocks artists to exchange ideas and experience of performance.

The compositions are set in partnership with ‘Blue Frog’ – an innovative live music performance club in Mumbai. Blue Frog started workshops for the children to get them accustomed to live audience. Several well-known Indian musicians such as Mohan from the Pune-based rock band Agnee, Suneeta Rao and Shankar Mahadevan volunteered and trained the children. Besides, visiting artists such as Stuart from the Mumbai-based band ‘Something Relevant’ and the ‘Boxettes’ have also conducted workshops, which gave the band its finesse.  Some dedicated volunteers like Abhijeet Jejurikar and Ayush Shreshta, both local musicians, spend several hours a week teaching and practicing with the band; the coaching provided by Jejurikar and Shreshta is fundamental support for the band’s performances. This band has showcased live performances in various parts of the world and has been well received by audiences.

Mr Jejurikar says that drumming helps in improving concentration, synchronization and teamwork. The platform of the band has motivated these young kids to think big. They now dream of making it big in the music world while the regular practice and shows conducted all over the world helps them nurture their talents. Many of the boys aspire to join the entertainment industry sooner or later. Do you know music can help you study? Studies have shown that the right kind of music can help you relax your mind which enables you to concentrate better on your work. Our minds have a tendency of wandering, and wandering makes us discontented; this because while mind wanders, it tends to focus on the imperfections of life. Music can bring us back to the present moment very easily.

Music has no boundary – it improves the learning skills of the young children of the band. Since they mix and mingle with children of other top schools, it brings the children from different backgrounds together and creates a bonding among them. They understand each other. It teaches them self-discipline, self-confidence, teamwork, and managing temperaments. Dharavi Rocks has changed many underprivileged kids in positive ways, improving their agility and soft skills. Kudos to ACORN and Blue Frog for such an innovative theme – the junk band!!!!